


safe in time for ghost stories

by determination



Category: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Canon Autistic Character, Gen, christopher is also autistic in my heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27180064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/determination/pseuds/determination
Summary: Cat and matches don’t mesh. Janet, like any responsible sibling, calls for Chrestomanci.
Relationships: Cat Chant & Christopher Chant, Cat Chant & Janet Chant
Kudos: 15





	safe in time for ghost stories

**Author's Note:**

> hello again and welcome to another "cat is autistic and christopher knows how to help from experience" fic :) i was thinking about how matches/matchbox might become a trigger for cat after his accident (setting yourself on fire by lighting a match that magically contains one of your lives would be pretty traumatizing). so, i thought, why not write a seasonal fic with that idea? i'm honestly really pleased with the result! writing this made me really happy;;  
> i'm autistic and cat's behavior is based on my own. (i'm very sad the skeleton hands i described don't exist. i really want them now lol)  
> no criticism or critiques please. i hope you enjoy!

Halloween at Chrestomanci Castle was a grand affair. Much time and effort was spent on decorations and seasonal baked goods, which Cat enjoyed heartily. His favorite were the skull shaped cookies with icing that was perfectly sweet, and just the right texture, smooth and melted on his tongue. He ate as many as they would let him. The decorations were good fun too, particularly the big skeleton that stood outside the castle and sometimes moved. Whenever he got the chance, he would crane his neck out of the nearest window to see where it had situated itself next.

Chrestomanci’s family in general, it seemed, were big fans of the holiday. Julia and Roger got the kids together one night for ghost stories. Cat didn’t mind, since such things didn’t frighten him, and Janet seemed interested to learn what sorts of stories they would tell. “We had ghost stories, too, in my world,” Janet said, “but they were usually so far-fetched. I think it’s because ghosts didn’t exist there, since there’s no magic. But I think ghosts could be real in a world with magic, and that fascinates me!”

Cat wasn’t sure it fascinated him. He didn’t know if he wanted ghosts to be real. He’d never heard of dangerous ghosts, though, so maybe it didn’t matter. Harmless ghosts didn’t seem so bad, as long as there were no pale, ghastly specters. 

They set up in the playroom in the evening, where fake spider webbing had been hung along the walls toward the ceiling and skeletal hands clawed out from under toy bins. There were fake blood puddles on the table, too, but Cat didn’t look at that for too long because it made his stomach twist uncomfortably. He fiddled with the skeleton hands while Julia and Roger cleared space in the middle of the floor and set up cushions for them to sit on. The fingers of the hands were bendable, and made a satisfying clicking sound when he bent the joints, and the pressure from the click felt good on his hands. He did this over and over until Janet beckoned for him to join them, but he didn’t come until he’d dislodged the hand to bring with him. 

While Julia talked, Cat continued to produce clicking noises with the skeleton hand. “So, the last thing to do is to set the atmosphere. Roger and I were thinking we could turn the lights off and use candlelight instead.”

“Spooky,” Janet giggled excitedly. “Let’s! Oh, what have you got there, Cat?” She noticed the skeleton hand in Cat’s grasp and leant over to get a better look. He held up the hand rather proudly and demonstrated with deliberate movements the satisfying clicking of the bendy fingers. Janet’s whole face lit up. “That’s fantastic! I might have to grab one myself.” And she got up to do just that, procuring her own skeleton hand from the nearest toy bin. “Now we match!” She beamed and clicked the fingers.

Cat was beaming as well. In his delight about the noise, he’d forgotten his usual trepidation with sharing his interests. But, as was very clear by now, Janet was nothing like Gwendolen. Gwendolen would have berated Cat for his childish behavior and taken the hand from him. Janet had not only shared Cat’s enthusiasm, but also went out of her way to join him. Cat was exceedingly glad that Janet was not Gwendolen. He was so glad that he chose the cushion next to Janet and sat close enough that he could lean against her. She seemed pleased by this, and the pair of them continued clicking their skeleton hands while Roger left to get candles. 

“I helped pick those out,” Julia said, watching them and gesturing toward the skeleton hands. “Daddy and I did, anyway. I’m happy to see they can be more than just a decoration.” Cat nodded and smiled. He was too overjoyed by the additional validation from Julia to find his voice, so he hoped his expression had conveyed his thanks.

Soon after that, Roger returned with a set of candles. He settled the candles in the middle of their circle of cushions and looked gratified by the result. “This will be perfect after we light them!” 

And then Roger brought out a matchbox.

Cat immediately felt a small jolt of unease run down his spine. It was an ordinary matchbox. He could see when Roger opened it to take out a match that there were at least 20 matches in the box, and none of them looked even remotely like the matches that contained Cat’s lives. That did nothing to assuage the anxiety building in his chest as Roger held the match to the side of the matchbox. 

Cat shut his eyes very tightly, dropped the skeleton hand, and tried very hard to force away the memory of catching fire. 

The lights in the playroom flickered. Roger stared curiously at the unlit match clutched between his fingers. He hadn’t even been able to strike it along the matchbox. Janet gave him a confused look. “Is it a dud?” she asked. 

“Try another one,” Julia said.

Roger’s brows furrowed with concentration. He seemed to grow distressed after a few moments, and his eyes flitted between the girls. “... I can’t,” he admitted, and glanced down at the matchbox. Julia frowned. “I, er… I can’t move at all.”

“Here, let me-” Julia started to say, but stopped, her eyes widening in alarm. “I’m stuck, too!”

Janet also tried to move, and found she couldn’t. No matter how she tried to wiggle or shift, it was as if her body was glued down. She could only barely tilt her head to look at Cat, though it was difficult to get a decent view of him. He seemed frozen, as well, curled tightly on himself with his hands over his ears and eyes screwed shut. “Cat,” she tried, “are you alright?” He gave no response, not even a twitch to show he’d heard her. “Cat?” She tried again, a bit more desperate.

“Is he doing this?” Roger said, round eyes going to Cat’s hunched form. “Lord, he’s strong.”

“You’re telling me,” Julia muttered, “I can’t even get my handkerchief out to try and do something to cancel it.” 

“What’s wrong, Cat?” Janet asked, growing more worried. He still didn’t move.

“Maybe he didn’t actually want to do ghost stories,” Roger offered. 

“I’m sorry, Cat,” Julia said and worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “We didn’t know. If you’re scared, we don’t have to do it.”

By then, Janet’s mind had been working to try to put together what had happened, and she thought she knew what had caused Cat to react this way. She glanced guiltily at the matchbox. “It’s not the ghost stories,” she said. But what could they do, if none of them could move? Janet couldn’t even use magic, and neither Roger nor Julia were in a position to work theirs. And she could tell no amount of coaxing would get a response from Cat.

Julia’s expression had gone thoughtful. She seemed to have come to the same conclusion at the same time as Janet. “We need Daddy,” she said resolutely.

Janet was already on top of it. “Chrestomanci,” she said, starting to feel frantic. At that moment, the door to the playroom opened and Chrestomanci stepped in, wearing a black dressing gown with orange accents. Janet was awfully relieved he’d gotten there so quickly. 

“Summoning me wasn’t necessary,” he said, gazing around at them with vague curiosity, “I was on my way already. It was fairly clear that whatever just froze half the castle came from in here.” His eyes landed on Cat, and his expression changed minutely. “There we are. What happened, exactly?”

There was nothing accusatory in his voice, but Janet still felt guilty. “We were going to tell ghost stories. Roger was going to light those candles, but we all got frozen before he could strike the match. I think…” She peered at Cat as best she could from the corner of her eye. “I think the matches panicked him. I think it reminded him of the time he…” She stopped, worried that mentioning it specifically might upset Cat further. To her relief, he still seemed completely unresponsive.

“Ah,” Chrestomanci nodded, understanding perfectly. “A trauma response, then.” 

“Can you help him?” Julia asked hopefully. “I’d really like to move soon. My legs are starting to fall asleep.” She’d been stuck sitting on them, and Janet could see they were starting to look a little blue where the blood circulation had been cut off. 

“Not to worry,” Chresomanci smiled. His smile was so reassuring that Janet instantly felt better. She hoped Cat would feel better soon, as well. 

Chrestomanci crossed the room and crouched in front of Cat, observing him quietly for a few seconds. “Cat,” he said in a soft but commanding tone. “Cat, I know you’re in there. I know it must be difficult to look past the fire, but I don’t need you to look. I only need you to listen to my voice. I’m going to touch you now. Is that alright?”

The lights in the room warbled. Janet tried to look up at them, but her face was stuck in a position that didn’t allow her to see very well. Was that Cat’s answer? How was Chrestomanci to know what he meant by it?

But he did seem to understand it, somehow. He reached out and very gently removed Cat from Janet’s side, cradling the boy in his arms. The other three children held their breath as they watched and waited. “Listen to me, Cat,” Chrestomanci said in the same soft way. “You’re perfectly fine. Your body is intact, and there is no fire here. I want you to breathe deeply, and with each breath, I want you to become aware of each of your limbs. Think about how they feel, and where they are. Can you do that for me, Cat? Breathe with me.” And there was silence as Chrestomanci did just that.

Janet found herself also breathing along with him. In for a few seconds, then out for a few more. In, then out. She thought about her body, where her legs were crossed on the cushion, the plush fabric comfortable under her. She thought of her arms and her hands, which still clasped the skeleton hand she had gotten to match Cat. She thought of the crick that was beginning to form in her neck from the angle she’d been sitting. 

“Your lives are safe, Cat,” Chrestomanci went on after some time. “It’s okay to be scared, but I promise you no harm will come to you. _You_ are safe.”

Presently, Janet felt her head jog loose and drop, which made her let out a little, “oh!” of surprise. After that, she found she could move her shoulders, soon followed by her arms and hands. She gave her legs an experimental wiggle and was delighted when she could unbend her knees and stretch her legs out in front of her. Roger and Julia were experiencing similar rates of recovery. Janet looked to Cat now, whose pretzeled figure had grown more relaxed. His hands lowered and his eyes opened, and he blinked up at Chrestomanci, dazed. 

“There, now,” Chrestomanci said, giving Cat a kind smile and putting him back down onto the cushion he’d been sitting on before Chrestomanci picked him up. “See? You’re alright. No fire.”

Cat’s mind was somewhat hazy, but when he lifted his hands and looked at them, he was pleased to find them unscorched. Indeed, the whole of him was in one piece and looked just the same as earlier. This was an immense relief. “Thank you,” he said to Chrestomanci in a shaky voice. Then he suddenly felt guilty and shy, and looked down at his lap. “Sorry about freezing everything.”

“Please don’t trouble yourself over it,” Chrestomanci said with a shake of his head. “You had a reasonable reaction to something that was very stressful for you. There’s no shame in that.”

Roger looked guiltier than Cat felt. “I’m so sorry, Cat,” he said, white-faced, “ I had no idea the matches would do that to you. I didn’t mean to give you such a scare.”

“The scares were supposed to wait until the ghost stories,” Julia muttered. Her remark was enough to make Cat crack a smile, which she returned twofold. 

“It’s okay,” Cat said earnestly. “I didn’t realize I was going to react like that until I saw the matches.” He shuddered.

“Well,” Chrestomanci said brightly, “Now you know. And that also means that we, collectively, know now to avoid striking matches around you. A fair sacrifice to ensure your comfort and wellbeing, wouldn’t you say?” He turned his eyes to the other children, who nodded fervently. “Splendid. Now, let us see about lighting those candles.” With a little flick of his wrist, the candles flickered to life.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Julia grinned. 

“Always a pleasure,” Chrestomanci said, and did a small, stunted bow as he straightened and stood. “Ah, and here’s Millie with refreshments.”

At that moment, the door opened, and Millie indeed entered the playroom, followed by Mary. The two women were carrying trays with an assortment of mugs, and Cat thought he spied, with some excitement, little skeleton hands poking over the edge of one mug. 

“I heard,” Millie said with an affectionate smile, “that my lovelies were preparing to tell ghost stories. And what better to go with ghost stories than warm drinks?” 

All of the children scrambled up from their circle of cushions to get a mug from the chuckling Mary, who handed a particular mug to each child. Roger received a mug of cocoa with a delightfully detailed marshmallow Frankenstein’s monster floating in it. For Julia, there was a mug of cocoa with a witch atop a broomstick designed in foam. Janet’s coffee - decaf, Millie explained, as it was too late in the day to condone drinking caffeine - was dyed red, and Janet squealed with joy to see the little sugar vampire fangs adorning the side of the mug. And for Cat, there was a mug of tea, inside which clung a sugar skeleton whose bony hands hung over the rim of the mug. He was so excited that he nearly forgot how upset he’d been just minutes ago. 

After everyone had their mug, Mary took the trays and left. Millie gazed around at the children with great fondness as they settled back onto their cushions and sipped their drinks. “Might I ask,” she started, “if the ghost stories are a children-only event?”

There was a clamor of excitement as Roger, Julia, and Janet all voiced their support for the parents joining them. Millie laughed and Chrestomanci looked considerably amused. “We shall be needing more seating, then,” he said, and in the blink of an eye, two more cushions accompanied the four. Millie took the one that was between Roger and Julia, and Chrestomanci sat beside Cat, who found himself grateful for Chrestomanci’s presence. 

He didn’t know how Chrestomanci did it, dragging him out of the panic like that. He thought perhaps magic was involved. But then he thought it was all Chrestomanci’s voice. There was something in the way he spoke that seemed to soothe Cat’s heightened fears. That, plus the pleasant pressure of being held were what brought him back from vivid memories of pain and burning. The memories felt more distant now, and Cat was pleased that he was able to sit there and sip his tea and didn’t feel as though he were about to combust. 

He set the mug aside to pick up the skeleton hand he’d dropped earlier and gave the index finger several bending clicks. That also helped him feel better, especially when Chrestomanci noticed and said with a grin, “That’s the best, isn’t it? I thought you would like them. I simply knew we had to put them in here as soon as I saw them.” 

That made Cat grin, too, because the implication in those words was that Chrestomanci did the same thing as Cat, and the solidarity was more than welcome. He liked the image of stately, elegant Chrestomanci, sitting in his office chair in one of his extravagant suits and bending the skeleton fingers with as much fervor as Cat. 

“Ghost story time!” Julia burst out, nearly sloshing cocoa onto the floor in her excitement. “Who wants to go first?”

“Might I?” Chrestomanci said. “I believe I have one that will satisfy all of you.” There was a chorus of approval, and he smiled dreamily at the sound. With a wave of his hand, the electric lights dimmed so that only the candles illuminated the room. “Wonderful. It begins with…”

After that, Cat had a marvelous evening. Chrestomanci was such a good storyteller that he managed to make his story both terrifying and humorous in equal measure. He was so good, in fact, that all of them were adamant he keep going. And this was excellent for Cat, since it meant he got to listen to Chrestomanci’s soothing voice and hear an entertaining story at the same time. 

He was quite content by the time Millie declared the hour too late to continue. The other children were disappointed to stop, and chattered enthusiastically about ghosts and ghouls as they were herded from the playroom. Cat was glad for a chance to look out a passing window and spy the large skeleton standing between some trees, looking cool and intimidating. 

Matches and fire were quite forgotten. 


End file.
